Sourav Ganguly debuts on Instagram on his 47th b'day
New Delhi, July 8: On the occasion of his 47th birthday, former Indian cricket captain and Padma Shri recipient, Sourav Ganguly on Monday announced his entry to Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo and video sharing app.
Through Instagram, Sourav via his handle "souravganguly", hopes to connect directly with his young fans, share memorable moments from his illustrious cricketing career, cheer for the Indian team as they play in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and express his opinion on social causes, with Instagram''s 1 billion strong global community, an official statement said here.
"Reinvention is constantly required in cricket, as it is required in life. From leading India on the field, to commentary, to advising an IPL team, to now joining Instagram, I continue being connected with people who're passionate about this amazing sport. I hope to engage with young fans by sharing valuable insights on cricketing events and encourage them to join me in causes close to my heart," Ganguly was quoted as saying in the statement.
"As I turn another year older today, I want to make this a year where I give back to my fans. So here's to birthdays and new beginnings," the former skipper captioned his first image on Instagram where he is seen cutting a cake.
Welcoming him to the Instagram community, Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India, said: "Enabling expression and fostering connections are at the heart of Instagram, and for public figures like Sourav Ganguly, the community serves as another creative outlet that enables them to directly engage with their fans.
"We are thrilled to welcome him to Instagram and look forward to seeing him share his passions and engage with the community."
Ganguly joins a long list of eminent personalities from Bengal who are present on Instagram to engage with their fans, including actresses and newly-appointed MPs Nusrat Jahan and Mimi Chakraborty.
He already has a strong Facebook community of over 6,00,000 people and also has 4.12 million followers on Twitter.
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Equity markets decline in early trade dragged by services, realty stocks, FII outflows
Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Monday weighed down by losses in services and realty stocks and sustained foreign fund outflows.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 316.52 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 85,395.85 in the morning trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined by 106.70 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 26,079.75.
From the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki India, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro were the laggards.
However, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Eternal, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Tata Consultancy Services, Trent, HCL Technologies and Tata Steel were among the gainers.
"Emerging positive and negative news have the potential to keep the market volatile in the near-term. Robust economic growth and indications of earnings growth revival are supportive of markets.
"The massive fiscal and monetary stimulus to the economy this year has contributed to sharp revival in GDP growth as evidenced by the 8.2 per cent Q2 GDP growth print, and RBI's upward revision of FY 26 GDP growth to 7.3 per cent augurs well for the market," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.
He noted that low GDP deflator, consequent to low inflation, has impacted nominal GDP growth and corporate earnings growth. But from the leading indicators it is clear that about 15 per cent earnings growth is achievable in FY27. This is positive for the market.
"However, there are strong negatives, too, which can impact the market. Sustained depreciation of the rupee has been forcing FIIs to sell in the market continuously," Vijayakumar added.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 438.90 crore on Friday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 4,189.17 crore, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and South Korea's Kospi were trading in the green territory while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was quoting in the red zone.
US markets ended higher on Friday.
"American equities posted modest, broad-based gains last week, supported by softer inflation data and resilient macroeconomic indicators that sustained expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts," Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said.
He noted that investors positioned cautiously ahead of the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, additional inflation releases, and year-end portfolio adjustments.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.13 per cent, to USD 63.83 per barrel.
On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex benchmark advanced 447.05 points to settle at 85,712.37, while the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 152.70 points to close at 26,186.45.
